'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2' director and cast talk death scenes, the final battle, and more

‘Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2′ director David Yates and stars Daniel Radcliffe and Rupert Gint talk about shooting the dark and disturbing scenes of the final film. 'Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2' hits theaters July 15.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part 2is coming to a movie theater near you in about eight days and counting. Do you have your midnight tickets yet? Because they’re going fast, especially if you want to see it in extra special 2D.

“For me, this whole series is about loss of innocence, and about Harry going from this wide-eyed child to this slightly grizzled young man by the end. It’s essential that he doesn’t entirely turn into a man in the film because that’s what makes all that fight stuff at the end so powerful. It’s also kind of horrible to watch, because you’re seeing a kid get beaten up by a very strong, very angry man.”

David Yates talked a bit about the numerous wizard duels in Deathly Hallows Part 2, which we haven’t really seen since Dumbledore VS. Voldemort in Order of the Phoenix:

“The notion that you’re in the middle of this wizard fighting is exciting, so it feels very visceral,” says Yates. “I did a wizard battle at the end of ‘Order of the Phoenix,’ and it was the first wizard battle between Dumbledore and Voldemort. What I really loved was the kinetic power of the exchange, because the magic I had seen at that point had always been pretty and clean. There are moments in this battle that are very visceral, frightening and percussive.”

Regarding the 3D, which was deemed undoable for Part 1, Yates said:

“My own idea about 3D is that it’s there to enhance the viewing experience, but I don’t think that you have to use it in a tricky way. I think the minute you sacrifice story and character for something coming out of the screen, I think you’ve lost it, really.”

The problem with this argument is, if you can barely tell the 3D is there, why are you paying six extra dollars for it?

On the accuracy with which Deathly Hallows Part 2 adapts the second half of the book it’s based on:

“I’m sure some of the fans will be frustrated [with what hasn’t been included from the books], but fortunately we’ve kept more than we’ve ever been able to keep […] with other adaptations. Because we can spread the whole story into two movies, we’re able to address some loose ends that we can tie up as we go.”

Two of the bigger problems with the some of the previous films have been either A) the filmmakers’ attempt to cram too much from the books into a too brief running time –Goblet of Fire – or B) the total exclusion of necessary plot points and scenes to fit said running time – Alfonso Cuaron’s Prisoner of Azkaban.

As for where the Deathly Hallows Part 2 differs from its source material, Yates said:

“Ultimately, the battle and the magical fighting is a counterpoint, and that is where we differ from the book a little bit. I felt that in the book and the earlier drafts of the scripts—before we worked them out—there was an opportunity [to counterpoint] Harry’s desperate race for the Horcrux with the Dark Lord’s ever-encroaching ability to kill everyone in the school, so there is this race against time. So we counterpointed these two strands.”

Rupert Grint talked about one of the major death scenes in Part 2 and how difficult it was to film:

“Ron [losing] his brother [...] was quite a big scene with the whole Weasley family. It was a depressing scene to do because you’ve got Fred lying on the floor and it’s quite shocking. It involves a character we’ve associated with jokes and mucking about. It’s quite horrible. There were a lot of heavy, emotional scenes like that.”

“Oh God, yeah, that scene was rough. We’ve actually just finished shooting it. Those scenes are all behind us and they were not very nice. It’s not very nice spending days thinking about your children dying.”

Rupert Grint also discussed the increased violence in the finale, saying:

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